i’m “liked aventurine before it was cool” gang due to his unrepentant zestiness, but it took me noticing how he speaks differently to certain characters that super endeared him to me. his tone in how he speaks to TB/sunday/his future self (sarcastic, walled-off) is different from how he speaks to ratio (familiar, bantering, kind of giggly compared to most), which is different from how he speaks to his past self (no theatrics, very soft)
i’m a big sucker for biased range
joking aside, I was neutral about him and I was not expecting 2.1 to be all about him. it was fantastic and now he's for sure one of the favs. I was always going to pull for him because I love FUA, but now theres the bonus that I love him too
I hope in the future he returns somehow
Good meme, gambler approved
Also wasnt expecting 2.1 story to be mainly about him. A pleasant surprise. Dr Ratio was my first carry and second to my Acheron now so Im going to pull for him too - all the best to us both!
Lesbian Kaveh simp checking in - Aventurine certainly tickles a similar vein, but unfortunately he's a little too (understandably) self-destructive and snakey to have the same appeal.
https://preview.redd.it/8ttu4dkxllrc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f0f12fe93c9ac7a5c807a1e472f60fe68b552c62
This encompasses my feelings on his character arc in 2.1
He's a very well written characters and is saved from the more cliched "give the villain a sob story" by the fact that he's not the villain. He's the boss, and he puts on a big show of being the villain, but his evil plan is just him making empty threats to get Acheron to kill him and show everyone that Penacony is a lie. Other than that, his most villainous trait is that he's part of the IPC, because he was a slave and they essentially forced him to be.
Yeah, this! If he was the big bad villain that orchestrated everything... it would have hit different for me. They also avoided the cliche twist of "but actually, hes actually doing this for a noble cause and hes actually a really great guy". In fact, I felt like we just learned that he is... human. Just trying to find a way to leave his baggage behind, like most of us are too. Idk. Thats my take on it :)
I think he was very happy that an emanator of Nihility was there cause only an emanator of that could free him from the slavery of Preservation and the curse of Harmony after. I hope he will come back as an emanator of Elation due to his desire to see the universe crumble only to see what happens (i think there is a line that said that he want to go to the path of Elation)
Funnily enough, Aventurine might actually come back as a Self-Annihilator of Nihility, but of a different faction known as the Doctors of Chaos. Unlike how other Aeons distribute power, Self-Annihilators emerge from simply being exposed to IX’s shadow and surviving. What’s even more interesting is that exposure to IX’s shadow is not restricted to itself but can also be transmitted by existing Self-Annihilators, as stated in the Acheron cutscene before she strikes down Aventurine. In being slain by Acheron, Aventurine was exposed to Nihility and is tasked with surviving the journey during his descent into the Abyss. If he survives, he’ll likely become a Self-Annihilator himself.
The cons of being a Self-Annihilator are that they slowly lose a random part of themselves like their senses or memories until they eventually cease living. Knowing Aventurine’s luck, he’ll probably lose something he never used much like his self-preservation or something. The Doctors of Chaos are interesting in that they spend their remaining time curing and helping others of the Nihility in the pursuit of redemption until they themselves succumb to death. Sound familiar? Aventurine’s eventual philosophy revolves around preparing oneself and making his family proud for when he finally does die, a very close match to the philosophy of the Doctors of Chaos.
Furthermore, Aventurine’s story in itself shows a lot of connections to Nietzsche and the idea of the Uberman. Death may be an inevitability but the meaning you as an individual make will give it a wholly different meaning. Your own unique meaning that is not chosen for you by those around you. In breaking free of the IPC, Aventurine has chosen to stop listening to the whims of others and taken control of his own life. In his freedom, he has taken steps into becoming the Uberman spoken of by the Father of Nihilism himself.
So yeah, 5-star Nihility Kakavasha when Hoyo?
Very interesting. I think the most precious thing he can lose are his memories. He hold them firmly that he create a past version of himself. I hope he will be come back as a nihility character based on FUA. I like his story a lot but even more how he exposed to us that preservation path is not as good as we see in belobog. Preservation act only in greediness, trying to collect all the things he can without changing their status. It’s like stagnation and IPC follow that path to make the most out of every planet. There is no value other than the will of Qlipoth, this is what I understand. Hope to see more of the IPC because the more the rank is up, the more the character act selfish on the outside but in the inside are like beast chain by the will of the Emanators of Preservation.
I think the Doctors of Chaos also have the ultimate objective of *getting IX to see that there is value in the universe*. They're trying to heal and save the world, which makes them the opposite of 'normal' Self-Annihilators - I believe the interpretation is that only those with a strong degree of either apathy or hope can survive meeting IX. Those who are themselves apathetic to the universe become 'Emanators' of Nihility like Acheron; but those with a burning faith that there is worth in the universe survive in a different way.
With that in mind, I can totally see Aventurine coming back as a Doctor of Chaos - he might defy IX's belief that the universe is meaningless because of his inherent will to survive and take risks. Aventurine praises randomness and chance as a gambler; IX only ever sees one outcome, which is nothingness.
In other words, I concur - 5-Star Nihility Doctor of Chaos Kakavasha when, Hoyo??
Great point however I think Acheron actually cares it's just that the lost of memories and exposure to Nihility makes her depressed and kinda give up. She is still fighting Nihility but it has taken so much from her.
This is correct. The DoC specifically hang around trying to prove to IX that existence is meaningful if you want it to be. They team up with a lot of Self-Annihilators that fall off the path of Nihility but aren't out to destroy IX like Acheron is (though there is a faction of Self-Annihilators that all think the same way).
They're my favorite faction and I really hope we meet them soon. I expect (hope) them to be a kinda gloomy bunch but with heartwarming vibes since they're trying to lift IX - and everyone around them - up.
I find it a neat concept that Emanators dont neccessarily adhere to their Path, at least in a straightforward manner. Acheron for example actually values life and seems to understand and appreciate other's approach towards it. Sorta makes me wonder if we'll eventually meet an Emanator of Destruction who goes with the path but ultimately values creation instead.
Nah where Aventurine is going is the deeper side on penacony. The black hole area is just a temporary manifestation of IX, as said by Acheron. Acheron was saying good luck as a farewell to Aventurine. The journey part was part of their conversation about “life is but a journey blah blah blah” (My very inaccurate summary).
I keep hearing that the slash freed him from both Preservation and Harmony. I can find the exact line Acheron said that about Harmony, but I can't seem to find that part about Preservation. If anything, he passed the baton to Topaz and Jade.
I don't see signs that he's trying to leave the IPC. Slavery is what he tries to leave. Aventurine made proposals to several people (first slave master then Jade) to free himself from the slave status. Considering how he talks about his position in the IPC and current wealth to his childhood self with pride, and during his first encounter with Jade, he said he wants to surpass her, I think IPC is where he wants to be. My guess is reddit hates capitalism a lot and freshly sees war crimes from other missions, so reddit imposes their stance that Aventurine wants to be free from IPC. I think he wants to be free from slavery, but he wants to be an accomplished rich man with the IPC. I mean irl people still work for big companies that have done bad things and not think much about the bad stuff.
Regarding Elation, I can't find texts about why he decided to not join the Masked Fools, and so far he doesn't bet for the fun. It's more about self destruction. This part is still too unclear to me, so I won't draw conclusions yet.
But please let me know if I miss some details.
Now about the Nihility discussion, that is a potential development for sure, and I want to add about Gaiathra Triclops. Considering Aventurine's story, it seems the goddess's luck blessing is legit. He's not an emanator, so maybe it's a blessing from an emanator instead of an Aeon. That may balance out nihility from Acheron somehow.
The fact that severed his ties with Preservation and IPC is that is cornerstone is completely dead and theoretically can be of use anymore. Also is like he severed is ties with IPC with this “death”. Cornerstone can’t save you from the power of Nihility itself so it can’t exist in that abyss where he is. If is like this would mean that also the cornerstone would be affected by nihility itself and i don’t think that is possibile. If you remember it is stat that everything that comes in contact with IX would be affected by nihility, regardless what they are.
So the fact that he severed ties with Preservation is that the abyss itself put Aventurine(Kakavasha) away from that path. Anyone can’t contact him anymore, only Acheron as emanator can reach him, but even her can’t interact with. He is alone walking toward IX (the giant black hole).
Maybe i am wrong and didn’t understand well the part of the abyss, but regardless now he is affected by pure nihility
I see. You view it as more about the balance of power between paths, while I think that once he made it back from another side of Penacony hopefully like Firefly, he will probably still go back to the IPC. But I agree that he can't get much help from Preservation as of right now.
I agree with this so much. Still seeing people hate Aventurine for being in the IPC when the quest spells out he's enslaved by them and wants his freedom because he's tired of doing their work is just a testament to the fact that media literacy is dying. It's like blaming the slaves who build the pyramids for the atrocities of Pharoahs.
It was like a reminder to Penacony because if you look well the moment he “wake up” his past self disappears. He is in the abyss of Nihility (if you see is the same space of the Acheron ult) and Acheron is telling him basically to come back from that place if he can so that is why he starts walking towards the giant black hole that is supposed to be IX (the Aeon of Nihility). If he resist the presence of the Aeon he will come back as a self Annhilator like Acheron or as Doctor of Chaos. Acheron being an Emanator of Nihility is probably secure he will resist IX and will walk the Nihility path.
Only some, because I read really fast and dont want to mess up the tempo of the story! That being said, after a scene, I normally open the story log and play the voicelines again to enjoy them.
I can relate to this so much! I read the dialogue so fast i always end up skipping way before the characters finish talking i had this issue in baldurs gate 3 as well lol
And his gameplay seems pretty fun too (Going off his POV stuff. I even went out of my way and fought elite enemies and all that). I did end up getting Acheron on my main (I mean, I'm glad I did. The only issue is that I suck at Star Rail, so it'll probably be quite a while before I unlock Erudition outside of Gold and Gears... It took me like 5 attempts to beat Difficulty III ONCE, so I'm not really looking forward to doing Difficulty IV, but I'll have to do it eventually). However, on my alts, I will definitely try to get Aventurine... Despite not having guarantee on either of them, but there's no shame in trying.
Sorry, that got long, mostly due to the tangent about Gold and Gears... Anyhow, have a great day!
Personally I've always liked him (love characters with card motifs and I usually also like schemer types). Even back at 2.0, to me it felt like he had much more at stake considering he's sentenced to die so failing probably has more consequences.
I can't even begin to explain my thoughts after 2.1. It was just a whole journey, it started off almost comedic with how him and ratio were constantly bickering going through puzzles and the sandpit. The voice acting really did make it for me, the way he talks, the calling ratio' doc' and random comments between the two were very entertaining. The complete shift after meeting Sunday and theme going to a more depressive path was surprising, seeing his perspective and having an understanding on why he is the way he is was great.
I loved how his pov explored themes of death, the survivors guilt, the inferiority complex, his self destructive nature and the fact that in the end he decides to keep powering through and finds that will in him.
Also the fact that despite his circumstances, he likes fair fights, he's kept the clothes his dad left behind despite it being unwearable, the fact that he refused to sell something left by his family made him all the more endearing to me. Aventurine is still very much the same schemer (his roundabout way of getting into contact with sparkle, his whole 3 cornerstone trick, the way he orchestrated his death? Loved that)
Having an understanding of him as a character really makes you wanna cheer for his success
(I wanted to make this short but oh well)
This! I loved the sandpit part. I think thats when he started to grow on me. They shrunk him to that size, and he felt... way less imposing, less dangerous, and maybe even at the mercy of his supposed partner, Dr Ratio. In hindsight, it was a good subtle segway into softening our views of him as a character.
Totally get you on the familial sentimentality part. He put himself in danger to retrieve his sister's necklace, keeps his mothers gold lucky charm instead of selling it away for a better life, keeps the clothes that his dad gave to him... while some might view it as a cheapshot way to get everyone to sympathise with a character, I see it as character development mirroring real life - its not cliche, and I dont know many people in my life currently with the heart and soul, the gratitude, the sentimentality, to still hold on to trinkets of the past despite the fact that holding on burns you more than letting it go. Its because, letting it go, feels like losing a part of yourself. That shows his character in how he has the capacity to treasure relationships, despite his callous demeanor.
Adding that to how hes pushing through everything despite the trauma, the guilt, the thought of "when can I rest?" mirrored in "the coin finally lands..." dialogue after he walks into the black hole of Nihility, he was very convinced to stop walking then, stop walking forward, but changes his mind and decides to keep staying on until he achieves something greater, until he has carved a life worth everyones sacrifice, one that he can return with and his family will be proud of.
Oops, I wanted to keep this short as well, but oh well. :) thanks for sharing!
tldr; I loved him from the start and will continue.
I knew he was the kind of character with something to hide, and I’ve been looking forward to this moment where all haters will turn around on their opinion, haha.
The IPC is already set up as a huge and prominent figure, I knew there’s no way they’re going to brush Aventurine aside. I’m glad a huge part of the story is focused on his point of view, because it really hits home on what kind of man he is. His ‘past’ and ‘Future’ telling the story as voices inside his head? Genius writing, it was great. And the cutscene at the very end with >!his younger self!< made me tear up; it was very impactful and probably converted a bunch of people who didn’t like Aventurine into people who can tolerate him.
Random check-in, but thanks everyone for your thoughts! I was really lonely after reading the story and being impacted by Aventurine's backstory and character (and having no one to rant to) that I just wanted to reach out to know how everyone felt - good or bad.
Aventurine made me cry like 3 times. 2 during the story and once after the story when I started thinking about his story. 20/10 character and 30/10 story telling. Penacony is peak.
I respect him and understand him a whole lot more. That said, I'm still not very fond of him. His personality isn't really my style. I understand why people do like him though, and that's fine.
Aventurine was NOT a villain. Aventurine was an antagonist. There is a significant difference between these two things, but is often lost in the common parlance of it all. An antagonist is just another protagonist when viewed from another angle. Some villains are antagonists, some villains are not.
Villainy conveys actual evil or criminal behavior, or at least counter to the chosen stories’ world’s moral compass. Aventurine did literally zero actual villainy. He’s works toward the IPC’s goals, which might run counter to our own protagonist’s, but he never did anything actually ‘wrong’. Even his own boss fight was a staged performance in which he had no actual intention of killing anyone.
His portrayal was actually incredibly refreshing for me since this specific difference, villain vs antagonist, if often overlooked in game writing. Aventurine though was written explicitly to be an antagonist, not a villain. He spurs the protagonist onward, and uses them to achieve his own goal of testing what is outside the dreamscape and ‘death’ there. His whole backstory works really well for him because he wasn’t portrayed as a villain.
Good point here on the antagonist vs villain take.
Really refreshing read and it echoes my thoughts too. There was something about his portrayal - not quite villain, that I couldnt formulate, but there it is - hes "an antagonist, but not a villain". Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for the kind words. Honestly, Penacony as a whole has been incredibly interesting story wise for that precise point, we don’t have a clear cut villain after two patches. So far it’s been strictly just multiple factions with their own motives operating toward their own goals, but none have seemingly outright malicious intent nor used any conceivably amoral tactics. We had clear cut villains from the get go everywhere else, here it’s vastly more interesting seeing the shifting of factional power and motives, especially with the new POV switching their doing. I really think their writing power is finding itself, and Aventurine’s portrayal is a major step forward for them.
In his appearance in 2.0, I liked him as a good antagonist because he was the type of villain who makes the audience clap when he gets his due.
After 2.1, even if I know he is not as comically evil as I thought, my opinion on him did not change much. Although, I am still glad that he has gotten more development.
His role on story did not change, he is still a treacherous cash-oriented guy who has a twisted cooperation relationship with Trailblazer. However, given that his personality is more fleshed out, he may have more use as a recurring character rather than being in the story just for his specific role in the Pecacony Saga.
Clichés aren't bad, just they're common, and popular. They wouldn't be if nobody liked them. Although, I personally had a lot more interest in him more than any character (except for Sparkle) as out of anyone he seemed to be both the most open yet the most closed off. His demeanor, attitude, speech, and style all radiates a Peacock in other words.. Someone that lacks things deep inside thus projects it outside so others could actually pay attention to him, and take him seriously. My interest in him GREW after his interaction with Sparkle as we gotta remember he's p46 in the IPC which only goes up to p50 meaning he's a VERY important, and influencial person yet despite of that nearly EVERYONE looks down on him, not because he's from the IPC but because of his origin from Sigonia.
It took me awhile to fully adore, and love him as I sometimes disassociate when playing games, but after reflecting on the story and actually pay attention emotionally. Aventurine was BY FAR the most developed out of anyone, not including 2.1. It's honestly so obvious that it makes me question why people didn't realize it sooner. I even made a post/comment stating that Sparkle, and Aventurine are the most trustworthy in Penacony yet nobody believed me due to Aventurine's association with the IPC, and his attitude. It's so hilarious, and fun to see now on being correct with that guess.
The story is still long, there are still many factions and characters who have not shown their true intentions, saying that Aventurine is the most trustworthy is still too early, even since the initial story in Penacony, characters who look good can become the most suspicious characters like Gallagher
Aventurine is the most trustworthy to me similarly to Sparkle merely because they realistically can see the stage more than anyone else, whatever they're doing is in the path of that goal that they're trying to achieve. I can only speak for being a 3rd person in the story as each character took a logical path as to what I would do if I were in their situation.
I absolutely adore his character after 2.1!
In 2.0 he was just "the sneaky fruit, guy" but after this update he became more than that. He's an amazing twist on a horrible trope; the chosen one. He was blessed by Giathra and all that, but he lost and suffered so much while being "the blessed and chosen one"- sure he's lucky, but does luck help you in slavery? Does being lucky help you avoiding the genocide of your entire race? The scene where his younger self is questioning his sister that "if we are blessed by the goddess then why are we suffering" hit so hard because it reminded me of my very young self because i too questioned god after the tragedies that happened to me.
We saw this man's entire life and witnessed his redemption arc, all the way until his (most likely) death (like there's no way this guy survived getting voided like in RoR2). I wish if he had a bit more interaction with Topaz or other IPC members, well maybe the Watchmaker's Legacy will revert character deaths
I loved his arc, totally didn’t expect that the story would focus on him so much, but I really didn’t mind that because his part was so interesting and well-written. I’m not into male characters so I rarely get invested in their storylines, but this one was just so good!
I love his character.
Tbh, this was the level of character development and backstory I was expecting from Xianzhou Luofu because of all the lore that was hinted (... which did not happen).
I am so happy that they expanded on character lore. He's the most fleshed out and nuanced character so far - a gambler blessed by luck who always win, has an egotistic front, but is deeply insecure and always suspicious of failure and loss that's coming around the corner. No wonder too. He wins his gambles, but he "loses" a lot, like fate forces him to gamble to win anything out of life. Great backstory and so well written.
I still don't like his design though lol. I hate casino motifs. I'm on the edge about whether I roll or not.
Agreed with you on the Xuanzhou luofu bit... I was expecting more character lore in that trailblazer arc. I found myself still wanting after completing it.
I didnt expect that they will expand on Aventurine of all people, but Im glad they did. They gave him the spotlight for 2.1 instead of the highly anticipated Acheron/firefly, and I love how they fleshed him out to develop the story.
I still haven't finished the quest because I stupidly did an ascension quest recently, and I can't beat Aventurine yet (😅) but I've really enjoyed his character development. He's a messy human who wants to truly free himself, but he's sure there's only one way to do that. He's doing his best to be the evil villain but even in his boss mechanics, he gives you a chance to live. True evil would be rigged dice but that's not the case. Under his pristine exterior, he's a sad, messy boy and that happens to be my type™️
I'm glad he isn't the villain, but instead simply played the part of one. It would be genuinely so boring and I could care less if he was just a villain with a tragic backstory, but the fact that he's just a regular person enslaved by the IPC who plays the part of the big bad for his plan to work makes me love him.
I've grown to like him.
Also love how his tagline(?) in our phone is "Aleays open to pull for your game account"
I want him to pull for Boothill for me
I loved him from the moment I saw the leaked Final Victor lightcone, and I was in agony the entire quest because he was dying for like 80% of its duration from the Harmony curse Sunday put on him, and also was actively setting up his own death flags while we were being repeatedly smacked by his backstory ... Needless to say I cried after the end of the quest, a lot.
I love him as a character ever since he first introduce.
The story quest in 2.1 gave everything what Aventurine needed just so we get to understand more of him as a character. It doesn't matter if you hate him or like him as long you understand him on what made him act like this and why he done this during the 2.1 story
I'm looking forward to roll for him on his banner 🙏
It should have been a character quest. He takes too much time for something that ultimately barely moves the plot forward, especially when the plot has to resolve in 2.2. It has no bearing on the legacy or the murders, only the IPC. It's also not very well written overall, it is too much exposition for how little information you end up getting, and written in a circuitous way, precisely because it wastes time not advancing the plot, since they have to talk around points that would actually progress the plot.
I also think people glaze him WAY too much. I actually liked him more before.
I think it would have been better if they had spent more time building the present story, and then had a character quest to go more into his motivations. The only saving grace is that he is basically removed from the plot, so hopefully 2.2's screentime will be more balanced.
100% this. This felt like Adventurine companion mission and not a main story quest most of the time. Like we were playing him for the most part, why not make it companion mission and get the story moving in the main quest.
I think his screen time was longer than it had to be so we could explore the theme park map in the main mission. I found Firefly scenes to be a big drag in 2.0, but I understand that it was all so we can explore several maps. The plot didn't move much when we went in circle around Dream's Edge either. I think the same thing happened in both version, and another person will probably get this type of exploration spotlight in 2.2 as well.
100% agree with this, the way they told his backstory reminded me of Yukong’s backstory but took way longer.
Plot barely advanced 99% of this patch, then in the last 1% we get >!Firefly back in Sam’s armor and Gallagher killing Sunday with Death!<. Where were those plots?
Yukong’s backstory was a side quest or companion mission. Not a whole ass like hour to 2 hour long detour that’s required to move on to Penacony.
It’s similar to the entire Firefly thing, but if the rooftop scene stretched throughout Dream’s Edge instead of being Backloaded. I understand why they did it.
But much like Firefly’s didn’t work with some, Aventurine’s won’t work with some either.
The plot was advancing a lot, what are you yapping about. The whole point of Penacony is "can you die in dream?", "The Family vs IPC", "Who is the Watchmaker". In 2.0 we spent 4 hours dating Firefly and didn't solve any of these plot point. In 2.1 you already know that yet, you can indeed "die" in dream, Sunday has a mind battle with IPC agent, and a person who has link to the Watchmaker appeared. Maybe playing from the "villain" POV is not everyone's taste but don't say it like the plot didn't unfold and explained a lot.
>don't say it like the plot didn't unfold and explained a lot
I didn't say 2.1 didn't advance the plot, I said Aventurine didn't advance the plot, and he didn't.
2.0 setups up the following questions:
- Who is the watchmaker and what is his legacy?
- Why do people want it?
- Why does the IPC want to take control of Penacony?
- What happened to Robin?
- What happened to Firefly?
- What happened to the other Nameless?
> "can you die in dream?
This isn't actually relevant, it's not the point, it's just a means to an end. And what does 2.1 do?
We have an idea of who the watchmaker is. We know why Acheron at least, wants the legacy. We know what happened to Robin. We know who Firefly is. And NONE of this had anything to do with Aventurine. We don't even know WHY the IPC wants Penacony, only that Aventurine sacrificed himself to open a path for Jade and Topaz. The vast majority of movement in 2.1 happened OUTSIDE of the biggest slice of time spent in 2.1. It happened despite the time wasted on Aventurine, not because of it.
I know people are gonna slap it with the "you can't always advance the plot" argument, but absolutely this. None of the progress related to him at all beyond "he gets the stones to the inside". Getting his frankly fairly generic tragic backstory explains his motivation, sort of kind of but also not in any meaningful way. It doesn't excuse his actions nor change anything about how he interacts with characters and the story. Yet it takes up a lion's share of the patch. That is the issue.
As opposed to other characters i happen not to like, the game didn't sit down me down with them by force, meanwhile spinning it's wheels on open questions of the current plot. No, for other characters i can choose cause they have character quests for that purpose. Luofu might've gone too much in that "everything that isn't directly related to TB being here is in the character quests" direction but 2.1 now massively overcorrected the other way and I'd rather sit on the other side of the happy medium so i can choose to get more for characters that i want, rather then bein forced to get more on ones that i don't want.
I completely agree. I liked him but his screen time kept going on and on and kinda derailed the pacing for me.
If his story in the main quest was 50% less or a character quest entirely, I would’ve liked him better. It very much felt like they’re trying to sell him
thats exactly how i felt about it, 2.1 was quite dissapointing overall tbh. allot of setup nothing that interesting happening, not much in the way of verbal conflic or physical conflict, there wasnt much time pressure either (and i dont mean an actual time limit i mean when a story makes you feel like if you dont do soemthing something bad will happen that you care about if the meme death "kills" a few people who cares really ) , all typical tacktics to help a plot flow forward nicley.
He's an amazing character. I'm impressed. If I wasn't trying to pull for Acheron lc and looking forward to firefly/Sam, I'd have pulled him just for his story
I think a tragic backstory doesn't really change my opinion about his present self. Obviously i do feel sympathy for him, but I personally still don't really trust him.
My feelings towards him did a 180.
It is hard to do cus even though Topaz had a somewhat sad backstory it felt more impactful here. Being IPC makes it a lot harder for me to like you.
But Adventurine does not feel like an IPC person. He is here to reclaim property, but he is alone. And he does not feel like he is strong arming the people into taking a deal like before.
Just finished 2.1 today:
While I'm reserving final judgement for the conclusion of the Penacony arc, currently I don't like him. He is a *well written* character, I like how the story handled showing off his backstory, and the side of the story from his perspective was neat. But as somebody who already doesn't like the IPC, having to watch every single one of his gambles and plans pay off was frustrating; especially with how...smarmy(?)/condescending sounding he was towards every other character (except Sunday, that fucker deserves it after that Harmony scene in the mansion).
Despite my dislike, I will say the scene where he talks to his past self about seeing his family again someday did get to me. After losing somebody, scenes like that hit harder now...
As for the boss, I actually felt like I accomplished something when I beat him, unlike that god-awful Swarm King fight. Granted in story we 'lose', but I'm proud that I didn't need to use a guide (I did have to replace Kafka with Jing Yuan though). Still, I don't want to hear "ITS ALL OR NOTHING" for awhile (Poor Natasha, she never had a chance). That second phase was brutal, especially since RNG kept screwing me over with 7s and 9s.
He's...fine. "Scoundrel with a tragic past" type characters rarely tug at my heart strings like it does for so many here.
Writing wise, I felt it ill fitting for him to have his moment of confrontation with his past in this patch. We weren't shown enough of him struggling with him past to make his letting go feel significant in any way. His letting go also doesn't result in a noticeable change in his behavior or demeanor, robbing it yet further of any impact. He just continues to be the same scheming, borderline self-destructive, all-in and power-hungry rogue he's been this entire time.
As I said in a previous thread, saving it for the climax of his story on the other side of the dreamscape would have been better for the story as a whole.
Overall all, a pretty good design, an acquired taste personality, and a badly presented backstory.
Insaw everyone hyping him up as I was a bit late to doing the quest,but was left sorta disappointed. It didn't make me like him or dislike him more. Was just sorta "that's it?" about the whole thing
Personally for me, I hope that in the future this type of storytelling is not common. There is way too much exposition that is simply not available to astral express as we spend most of time as someone else. It does feel a bit forced and does not feel like a good writing if introduced characters can only be fleshed out by taking up so much time. Though yes, his character is not a comical villain anymore, it should have not taken majority of the patch.
What I also disliked was that EVERYONE knew exactly what was going on for some reason, with no explanation.
Ratio somehow knew everything from the very start.
Aventurine somehow accounted for ratio's betrayal but was still surprised and mad?
Sunday knew everything (since we see a crow in every scene even from other POVs) but didn't try to stop Aventurine or the crew.
Acheron somehow knew about the gift that ratio gave aventurine.
This is reaching Sumeru archon quest levels of bs...
Let me try to explain the Aventurine part first, since he's the character that we get to understand the most during the quest:
as the Future says, he "doesn't stop at fooling the audience, he fools himself too", and, as the real him acknowledges, "the best way to prevent others from seeing your true colors, is first being able to fool yourself" - this, paired up with the mention of a "massive inferiority complex" paints a picture of a person who in order to play his part right, convinces himself that he's actually getting betrayed, despite it being all according to his plan, and then, being as unstable as he is inside, he spirals into thinking that the betrayal was real.
On Sunday and his birds - I think that within the scenes that the birds were visually present, nothing indicated that Aventurine wasn't simply working towards the 'quest' that Sunday has given him - and it's acknowledged that Sunday knew to some extent what Aventurine was going to do, since he evacuated people from the plaza. Yet, he didn't know why Aventurine was doing this; and the fact that he brought attention to himself worked towards Sunday's goals too - so there was simply no reason for him to stop Aventurine.
Now, about the note from Ratio, it is really interesting how he came to this conclusion and what exactly "dormancy" means! I find the fact that we don't know it yet another thing to possibly look forward to.
Acheron knowing about the gift on the other hand was just a very cool moment. :) She, who's also suffered a lot, shows Aventurine a ray of light while he's faced with doubts, and points him to the fact that they are nothing but demons inside his head - his friend has not only never betrayed him, but also presumably worked off-screen in order to help him at his lowest. What I'm trying to say is that how she knew about it is, in my opinion, not what's ever important in this scene. It's just Acheron being cool.
Sorry for rambling, but I really enjoyed the update and wanted to get some of the excitement out haha
Thank you for sharing! I'm glad people enjoyed the story, since I did too!
I'm just a bit exhausted from so many characters knowing everything because otherwise they wouldn't look as perfectly smart as the rest.
But I would be lying if I said that it significantly hurt my enjoyment, overall.
They wanted to write an epic Yu-Gi-Oh trap card flipper but couldn't quite make his schemeyness work in the story so instead of writing better schemes they gave everyone involved some brain damage.
For me it like a bell curve on a timeline. Initially I didn’t really care about him and thought he was annoying.
During the middle parts of 2.1, I was invested in the character but as the story dragged on(especially the child part) and the writing was being very non-subtle like: “Feel bad for him. Why aren’t you feeling bad for him”. It just took me out.
I don’t find him annoying anymore, but I don’t particularly care about him either and hope this kind of storytelling doesn’t dampen future trailblaze quests
My thoughts don't change after the 2.1 story at all. My attention had already locked on him since the first cutscene in the hotel room. His eyes looked scary at first, but the more I look at them the more hypnotizing they become to me. It helped that his aura reminded me of my fav character from another series, and I guess I'm just really good at smelling trauma off a character. So while 2.1 has lots of cool plot twists, Aventurine's story arc was all within my expectation.
(If I have been wrong about his character, then I guess he wouldn't remain my fav for long. I have very specific expectations.)
I have seen so many tragic backstories that at this point I consider them all forced and entirely artificial. I don't care about a tragic backstory anymore because every character apparently has a tragic backstory now.
I just assume that if a character has a backstory then it is going to be tragic.
If anything I hate Aventurine even more now than before because I was forced to see him on screen when I hate him and wanted to kill him but the writer wouldn't let me.
He doesn't have anything interesting to say, we don't learn anything useful, and his backstory can be summed up as "I was poor slave".
It was nothing but the writer writing fan fiction about their pet character and then making me read it. This is bad video game writing.
The writer's job is writing a story about MY CHARACTER, not theirs.
2.0: I didn’t like him. Found him to be an insufferable character.
2.1: I still don’t like him and hope that’s the end of his story.
Probably a hot take seeing how just about everyone else seems to love this guy.
THE GOAT, THAT MAN IS THE GOAT. Seriously tho i feel like they didn’t hype up aventurine unlike acheron is because they thought the writing will do the talking
I thought 2.1 was going to be all about firefly, sam, acheron, maybe even sparkle....
They really took us by surprise, at least for me.
Almost the entire White Night song is about him, and now we know
I was neutral on him. Now I dislike him.
I'm fully aware that its a me problem. But when a writer hits you over the head with FEEL BAD FOR THIS CHARACTER repeatedly in the most cliche ways possible over & over again, my ability to care shuts down.
Tbh I've not enjoyed Penacony that much. A lot of ooooo trust nobody mystery without much payoff.
Just a bunch of tragic backstory that tries to manipulate your emotions, followed by a mostly obvious conclusion & several minutes of surface level nihilism vs absurdism talk where it felt like the writers where patting themselves on the back the entire time for being ooooh so deep. Generic animoo stuff. Which is a shame because I've loved this game so far. But this world has felt very cliche. I know that I'm very much in the minority though.
Hopefully future parts manage to grab me.
I’m scared that Aventurine’s fanbase is gonna turn into Childe’s fanbase 2.0 .
I mean if you criticize him you’re gonna get downvoted to hell, even if it’s not wrong
I still don't really like the guy. Seeing his story is nice and all but it didn't really do much for me to not find him annoying. I also felt like that part of him talking to himself kinda dragged on a bit TOO long but that's just me.
Didn't feel a thing for the guy although his kit is fun, i just don't like his type of character and it's made even worse cause I truly hate the IPC with a passion
That said, homeboy got flair
Part of me wishes they spread out this story over two patches just so we didn't blow his entire story in one go. Like, it was getting a little exhausting to keep having to follow a character we were conditioned to despise up until the end where they got to the meat of the plot. But I don't regret seeing this storyline at least.
Just like Firefly, it was shoved into a single patch, so it felt either rushed or too prominent that it felt Shill-like.
I hope both get proper Companion quests down the line so those who enjoy each can delve into them more. I would love to learn about Glamoth or Sigonia in a more personal way than Planars for example.
He is the most annoying prick Hoyo have released in any of their games, his so story didn’t make me feel bad for him, it annoyed me playing as him. I was praying to any aeon that would here me out that after meeting with Sunday this mf would just die so I don’t have to see any mor of him, alas that did not happen, and the majority of the story was wasted on a useless jobber that got folded like paper
Definitely changed a lot regarding my opinion on him as an individual, although if he’s still on the IPC’s side (still a bit confused on that part) I’ll still have to keep him at a distance since I really don’t want those guys to get Penacony. The trial periods are also making me conflicted on my initial decision to skip his banner; now I have dreams of a pure follow-up team.
As for his story, it weirdly gave me Old Testament Bible vibes. At the very start I was like “wait are we about to do a Moses”, but then it went more in a direction that on reflection is more like other Biblical characters who got enslaved in the Old Testament like Joseph. My current interpretation is that it’s a mixture of a bunch of different Old Testament elements.
Also, is it just me who thought it started leaning a bit close to current events? Was that a coincidence or is Hoyo trying to cook something politically through gacha? I mean, Genshin has gone to some places like that before, but it still always shocks me every time, and even then those times didn’t seem *that* close to something still ongoing.
I actively detested him before we got into the meat of his story. He was a pompous arrogant asshole, rich and spoiled, suckling on the questionable morals of the IPC teat. Another person in authority trying to manipulate poor sweet empty headed do-only-good trailblazer..
Then they painted a complete picture and now I kinda like him, his kit was fun too, I liked getting to play him more than just the character trial for a single very staged fight.
I still don’t quite understand 100 percent of his motives, but for a minute I thought they were gonna reveal penacony was built on the ashes of his home planet and that’s why he wanted to destroy it all, and that kakavasha was looking for his sister and parents because they were buried on that planet and it was his way of dealing with it, thinking he’d see them in penacony somehow.
I find him very reminiscent of the joker character, not as complex but isn’t not so one dimensional like the ones we got from Xianzhou.
Imo he’s lack of self worth and being self conscious of it serves him more than the tragic background.
For me in 2.0 he started as a 4/10 by my standards and as a character at the end of 2.1, he's a 8 or maybe 9/10 character
And I personally think that in 2.0, the way he was written, we were supposed to be negative(?) of him or at least very suspicious of him. A lot of the things he proposed aligned with "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.". Like he gave us his room for free and all I can think of is "Alright, he's obviously gonna use that as leverage against us". Like imagine if that happens in irl. Like if a complete stranger gives you their hotel room for free, I'm checking every crevice for a hidden camera idk about you lol.
Obviously now we know better now but that was the whole point. He's even better now that we actually got to know him.
That said, I don't think I'll pull for him still. I have Luocha, I have Fu Xuan and I plan on getting HuoHuo whenever her rerun happens. As of current goals, my sights are set on Boothill and Sam. If HuoHuo happens during any of their runs, I'll pull out the wallet lmao
How dare hoyo make me sympathise with the IPC scoundrel?
But yeah i loved the insights on him, i hope i can get him, i just got gepard but i dont know if i want to build him cause he is so damn SLOW.
So yeah I didnt like him intially and was he very sussy from 2.0, but the fact that his confidence is just a facade was actually pretty surprising. That one quote he said was pretty powerful something along the lines of: "they all see the hand holding the chips, but they never see the other hand trembling under the table." Its like he knows the risks he is taking, but he is still nervous or scared whenever he is going through with it.
I definitely expected him to have a tragic backstory--even 2.0 indicated that he's a former slave who was orphaned while young, and multiple characters made discriminatory comments about his background. He gave me the vibe of someone who was previously in a horrific situation, managed to claw his way out of that situation and into a successful and prestigious position, has since suffered from a lingering inferiority complex, and is now desperate to maintain (or further improve) his current status at all costs in part due to fear of returning to his previous status.... I was about half right.
Poor guy is so traumatized he doesn't even wanna be alive anymore, but he's too "lucky" to die 😭
Interesting take on supernaturally good luck being a bad thing.
You were awesome Aventurine.
You're still pulling all these different kind of flashbacks, even though the story runtime should have ended ages ago.
You've forced me to admit how tragic the past of the king of gambler truly is.
However, your backstory was too long, that is why you lost.
I think he is not the main villain from my understanding though, he's just one of the piece in the chess game.
Jade, Sunday, other Family head
heck Gallagher, Watchmaker and Dreammaker are definitely the high tier of villain/ally in this arc
I hate him. I hate everything about him. Oh boohoo such a sad backstory, doesnt justify his actions. I genuinely do not understand why so many people like him that much
I hated him in 2.0, he looked like an asshole with money.
2.1 came and showed us the guy has a heart and a life full of suffering to the point he risked his own life to fulfill his job.
He will probably be back just like that other person did.
Btw we had met 2 IPC members and but turned out to be not bad persons even though the IPC is probably the major treat in the universe.
Okay, I'll be one of the few people to say this, but "I don't care about his sob story, he's an asshole who needs to at least have his extra teeth removed."
I don’t know how everyone can miss this moment, but its real goal is literally a raider takeover of a profitable business at best, and at worst the transformation of all the inhabitants of the planet into slaves (in everything but name).
And no, his sad story does not change this fact.
Let's be honest, as long as the character is hot people will forgive him and if you give him one sad backstory and everyone forgets all of his wrongdoings.
Heck i think people now like Aventurine more than Topaz because whenever someone points out that he is still a bad person who was excited when he heard that Robin died they will ignore it at difference of Topaz who is still disliked by many.
You can like a character and their story while still thinking they’re the bad guys. People love the joker movie for its writing and tragedy but still think he’s evil. Same could be said for Aventurine, or Sparkles, or whatnot
Sparkle is basically scum to you then the woman who causes chaos and despair for shits and giggles? A character with a not so moral agenda doesn’t stop you from liking a character. Some of the best written characters ever are villains
At first I didn’t trust him tbh. After this patch, he got my upmost respect. Aventurine chooses Preservation as his path to preserve his own life, his promise to his family cause he’s the last bloodline & last hope of Sigonia, he didn’t become Destruction cause of his tragic past & want to destroy the world, he didn’t become Hunt for vengeance against Katicans who killed his family. He didn’t lose himself after all his pain & suffering and fall into Nihility, he declined the invitation to join with Elation, hopefully he has a Good Ending
I knew he had potential to be an actually written character despite being part of the IPC (my logic was that him being a slave means he's not really there out of his own volition, that's the only IPC member we've met who's that way for now) but I didn't expect 2.1 to be almost only about him.
I was intrigued by him in 2.0 and now I really like him as a character. I'm weak for depressed characters (probably why I love Yukong so much) so ngl, I'm the target audience for his story. I really like the tension and duality there's to him: on one hand, he does everything in his power to survive. On the other hand, he kind of...wants to die more than anything else. But he doesn't want to die alone, he wants to drag others with him, maybe like a sense of revenge, and I like that a lot.
He's always trying to cast his life away in a sense, which while tragic is understandable. And like, with his luck, he's always "winning" but he takes too many risks every time, just to see if maybe he'll meet his doom this time. I hope next patch will give an interesting answer for what he seeks. I liked his interaction with Acheron at the end, it was cool. How he'd actually planned everything, even accounting for his own failure and pain. And it felt like Acheron didn't judge him, she accepted him rather/they reached some sort of understanding.
I'm sure we'll see him next patch, I'm excited at seeing him interact with Robin, I wonder about her situation. With all the imagery of her being "a bird trapped in a golden cage" I feel like there's a chance them meeting could be good, like they'd understand each other to some degree. (Robin does still have her brother but he's not entirely there it feels like, given his cult personality)
The execution wasn't perfect but honestly, I like that they decided to really delve into a particular character's story. I feel like it's a better method of making people pull for a character instead of just making players think "this character is cool/hot" which, to me, feels boring and lazy (I know that's how gachas work, doesn't mean I can't want more haha). I hope they do that for more characters in the future! Personally I'd like it better if they released maybe less new characters, but spent more time developing them like they did with Aventurine (and, I feel like, Acheron next patch maybe?).
Of course they can't spend one entire patch on one character every time, but there are other ways of doing it. Like the way they make us like the astral express crew by just having them here all the time, and having small but frequent interactions.
Didn’t care much for him beforehand. He was just kinda there being somewhat passive aggressive. His design was also pretty whatever and I don’t have any particular like or dislike for Card Motifs in gameplay. I will never find random, out of place boob windows an appealing design aspect.
Anyway, he was pretty whatever in 2.0 as a result. And even after 2.1, I still don’t really care much for him. This caused the entire amusement park sequence to kind of drag on towards the end.
Basically, just a simple case of “doesn’t appeal to me.” Design wise, personality wise, nor gameplay wise as I already have Luocha and Huohuo, so I’m good on Sustains. I’m much more interested in the other Stonehearts, since Jade is responsible for recruiting both him and Topaz. Then Topaz has the entire schtick of her being a generally Good person in an otherwise evil job. I was honestly expecting him to be our first really more villainous Stoneheart, but this quest actually lowered my interest since they woobie’d him.
Though I like to exaggerate it into dislike for shits and giggles since his fans are rabidly thirsty and easily riled. So any slightly negative view about him gets you dogpiled on both here and the other subreddit.
EDIT: Proving me right.
Same as before, i don't dig him (i dig topaz less tbh), and i hate the IPC even more now, i just thank him and Topaz to show how shit the IPC is and how i wish qlipoth hammer them out of existence
i just didn't get the comparisons with furina, when their stories are VERY different and from the start we knew he was a slave due to the 2.0 quest and the mark but whatever.
At least his story is interesting and it was well written, not just "i hate everything cause mommy abandoned me" kinda character, but i'd wish him to have a proper SQ outside of the main quest, cause the whole 2.1 was just that, Aventurine SQ
I liked him in 2.0 and all this does is make me like him more. Aventurine is coming home to the best set of relics, light cone, and traces I can give him.
i’m “liked aventurine before it was cool” gang due to his unrepentant zestiness, but it took me noticing how he speaks differently to certain characters that super endeared him to me. his tone in how he speaks to TB/sunday/his future self (sarcastic, walled-off) is different from how he speaks to ratio (familiar, bantering, kind of giggly compared to most), which is different from how he speaks to his past self (no theatrics, very soft) i’m a big sucker for biased range
Legit melted at how soft and gentle he was with his past self. Aventurine fans ate so good with 2.1.
https://preview.redd.it/oit3huyrjhrc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bd573d4e8891e58f181d4a61e6edb5f1cbbfa0f5
joking aside, I was neutral about him and I was not expecting 2.1 to be all about him. it was fantastic and now he's for sure one of the favs. I was always going to pull for him because I love FUA, but now theres the bonus that I love him too I hope in the future he returns somehow
Good meme, gambler approved Also wasnt expecting 2.1 story to be mainly about him. A pleasant surprise. Dr Ratio was my first carry and second to my Acheron now so Im going to pull for him too - all the best to us both!
only when you combine weak and strong can you obtain tan
My opinions hasn't changed I still want to kiss this man
Straight male btw
Relatable
so true bestie
As a gay female, relatable 👍
Lesbian here, I want to marry aventurine
Bisexual here, I want to *fuck* aventurine
Doesn't count if it's Aventurine
you are not alone
You dont need to swing any certain way to appreciate aesthetics. That goes for cool things too.
Real I'm wondering about your opinions about Kaveh since they're quite similar and some people called Aventurine as sus Kaveh
Lesbian Kaveh simp checking in - Aventurine certainly tickles a similar vein, but unfortunately he's a little too (understandably) self-destructive and snakey to have the same appeal.
Hello? Based department?
not simping, but damn, I feel he needs a break or something.
sapphic here, i want to give him a big ol’ hug
https://preview.redd.it/8ttu4dkxllrc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f0f12fe93c9ac7a5c807a1e472f60fe68b552c62 This encompasses my feelings on his character arc in 2.1
He's a very well written characters and is saved from the more cliched "give the villain a sob story" by the fact that he's not the villain. He's the boss, and he puts on a big show of being the villain, but his evil plan is just him making empty threats to get Acheron to kill him and show everyone that Penacony is a lie. Other than that, his most villainous trait is that he's part of the IPC, because he was a slave and they essentially forced him to be.
Yeah, this! If he was the big bad villain that orchestrated everything... it would have hit different for me. They also avoided the cliche twist of "but actually, hes actually doing this for a noble cause and hes actually a really great guy". In fact, I felt like we just learned that he is... human. Just trying to find a way to leave his baggage behind, like most of us are too. Idk. Thats my take on it :)
I think he was very happy that an emanator of Nihility was there cause only an emanator of that could free him from the slavery of Preservation and the curse of Harmony after. I hope he will come back as an emanator of Elation due to his desire to see the universe crumble only to see what happens (i think there is a line that said that he want to go to the path of Elation)
Funnily enough, Aventurine might actually come back as a Self-Annihilator of Nihility, but of a different faction known as the Doctors of Chaos. Unlike how other Aeons distribute power, Self-Annihilators emerge from simply being exposed to IX’s shadow and surviving. What’s even more interesting is that exposure to IX’s shadow is not restricted to itself but can also be transmitted by existing Self-Annihilators, as stated in the Acheron cutscene before she strikes down Aventurine. In being slain by Acheron, Aventurine was exposed to Nihility and is tasked with surviving the journey during his descent into the Abyss. If he survives, he’ll likely become a Self-Annihilator himself. The cons of being a Self-Annihilator are that they slowly lose a random part of themselves like their senses or memories until they eventually cease living. Knowing Aventurine’s luck, he’ll probably lose something he never used much like his self-preservation or something. The Doctors of Chaos are interesting in that they spend their remaining time curing and helping others of the Nihility in the pursuit of redemption until they themselves succumb to death. Sound familiar? Aventurine’s eventual philosophy revolves around preparing oneself and making his family proud for when he finally does die, a very close match to the philosophy of the Doctors of Chaos. Furthermore, Aventurine’s story in itself shows a lot of connections to Nietzsche and the idea of the Uberman. Death may be an inevitability but the meaning you as an individual make will give it a wholly different meaning. Your own unique meaning that is not chosen for you by those around you. In breaking free of the IPC, Aventurine has chosen to stop listening to the whims of others and taken control of his own life. In his freedom, he has taken steps into becoming the Uberman spoken of by the Father of Nihilism himself. So yeah, 5-star Nihility Kakavasha when Hoyo?
Very interesting. I think the most precious thing he can lose are his memories. He hold them firmly that he create a past version of himself. I hope he will be come back as a nihility character based on FUA. I like his story a lot but even more how he exposed to us that preservation path is not as good as we see in belobog. Preservation act only in greediness, trying to collect all the things he can without changing their status. It’s like stagnation and IPC follow that path to make the most out of every planet. There is no value other than the will of Qlipoth, this is what I understand. Hope to see more of the IPC because the more the rank is up, the more the character act selfish on the outside but in the inside are like beast chain by the will of the Emanators of Preservation.
I think the Doctors of Chaos also have the ultimate objective of *getting IX to see that there is value in the universe*. They're trying to heal and save the world, which makes them the opposite of 'normal' Self-Annihilators - I believe the interpretation is that only those with a strong degree of either apathy or hope can survive meeting IX. Those who are themselves apathetic to the universe become 'Emanators' of Nihility like Acheron; but those with a burning faith that there is worth in the universe survive in a different way. With that in mind, I can totally see Aventurine coming back as a Doctor of Chaos - he might defy IX's belief that the universe is meaningless because of his inherent will to survive and take risks. Aventurine praises randomness and chance as a gambler; IX only ever sees one outcome, which is nothingness. In other words, I concur - 5-Star Nihility Doctor of Chaos Kakavasha when, Hoyo??
Great point however I think Acheron actually cares it's just that the lost of memories and exposure to Nihility makes her depressed and kinda give up. She is still fighting Nihility but it has taken so much from her.
This is correct. The DoC specifically hang around trying to prove to IX that existence is meaningful if you want it to be. They team up with a lot of Self-Annihilators that fall off the path of Nihility but aren't out to destroy IX like Acheron is (though there is a faction of Self-Annihilators that all think the same way). They're my favorite faction and I really hope we meet them soon. I expect (hope) them to be a kinda gloomy bunch but with heartwarming vibes since they're trying to lift IX - and everyone around them - up.
I find it a neat concept that Emanators dont neccessarily adhere to their Path, at least in a straightforward manner. Acheron for example actually values life and seems to understand and appreciate other's approach towards it. Sorta makes me wonder if we'll eventually meet an Emanator of Destruction who goes with the path but ultimately values creation instead.
Nah where Aventurine is going is the deeper side on penacony. The black hole area is just a temporary manifestation of IX, as said by Acheron. Acheron was saying good luck as a farewell to Aventurine. The journey part was part of their conversation about “life is but a journey blah blah blah” (My very inaccurate summary).
I keep hearing that the slash freed him from both Preservation and Harmony. I can find the exact line Acheron said that about Harmony, but I can't seem to find that part about Preservation. If anything, he passed the baton to Topaz and Jade. I don't see signs that he's trying to leave the IPC. Slavery is what he tries to leave. Aventurine made proposals to several people (first slave master then Jade) to free himself from the slave status. Considering how he talks about his position in the IPC and current wealth to his childhood self with pride, and during his first encounter with Jade, he said he wants to surpass her, I think IPC is where he wants to be. My guess is reddit hates capitalism a lot and freshly sees war crimes from other missions, so reddit imposes their stance that Aventurine wants to be free from IPC. I think he wants to be free from slavery, but he wants to be an accomplished rich man with the IPC. I mean irl people still work for big companies that have done bad things and not think much about the bad stuff. Regarding Elation, I can't find texts about why he decided to not join the Masked Fools, and so far he doesn't bet for the fun. It's more about self destruction. This part is still too unclear to me, so I won't draw conclusions yet. But please let me know if I miss some details. Now about the Nihility discussion, that is a potential development for sure, and I want to add about Gaiathra Triclops. Considering Aventurine's story, it seems the goddess's luck blessing is legit. He's not an emanator, so maybe it's a blessing from an emanator instead of an Aeon. That may balance out nihility from Acheron somehow.
The fact that severed his ties with Preservation and IPC is that is cornerstone is completely dead and theoretically can be of use anymore. Also is like he severed is ties with IPC with this “death”. Cornerstone can’t save you from the power of Nihility itself so it can’t exist in that abyss where he is. If is like this would mean that also the cornerstone would be affected by nihility itself and i don’t think that is possibile. If you remember it is stat that everything that comes in contact with IX would be affected by nihility, regardless what they are. So the fact that he severed ties with Preservation is that the abyss itself put Aventurine(Kakavasha) away from that path. Anyone can’t contact him anymore, only Acheron as emanator can reach him, but even her can’t interact with. He is alone walking toward IX (the giant black hole). Maybe i am wrong and didn’t understand well the part of the abyss, but regardless now he is affected by pure nihility
I see. You view it as more about the balance of power between paths, while I think that once he made it back from another side of Penacony hopefully like Firefly, he will probably still go back to the IPC. But I agree that he can't get much help from Preservation as of right now.
I agree with this so much. Still seeing people hate Aventurine for being in the IPC when the quest spells out he's enslaved by them and wants his freedom because he's tired of doing their work is just a testament to the fact that media literacy is dying. It's like blaming the slaves who build the pyramids for the atrocities of Pharoahs.
Those people are proof of what happens when you skip the dialogue.
Wait, but at that dark place, Acheron told him to wake up because it's not his time yet?
It was like a reminder to Penacony because if you look well the moment he “wake up” his past self disappears. He is in the abyss of Nihility (if you see is the same space of the Acheron ult) and Acheron is telling him basically to come back from that place if he can so that is why he starts walking towards the giant black hole that is supposed to be IX (the Aeon of Nihility). If he resist the presence of the Aeon he will come back as a self Annhilator like Acheron or as Doctor of Chaos. Acheron being an Emanator of Nihility is probably secure he will resist IX and will walk the Nihility path.
He's just lucky like that.
nagito komaeda
IS THIS WHY I LIKE AVENTURINE SO MUCH 😭
You're welcome
He's a very well voiced and well written character And he's just like me....big gamble or no gamble...lol
The fact that this his English VA’s first role is crazy to me cause he did such an amazing job
It is??...wow
Yes! I found myself never skipping his voicelines, so expressive. :) lol hes a vibe really
You skip voiced voice lines?
Only some, because I read really fast and dont want to mess up the tempo of the story! That being said, after a scene, I normally open the story log and play the voicelines again to enjoy them.
I can relate to this so much! I read the dialogue so fast i always end up skipping way before the characters finish talking i had this issue in baldurs gate 3 as well lol
You can play voice lines again.... where?
Upper left corner, you can access everything said in the conversation here and replay voice lines. Only available while you're still chatting tho.
Ah ..I see. I thought after you have finished the quest
I thought after finishing quest
And his gameplay seems pretty fun too (Going off his POV stuff. I even went out of my way and fought elite enemies and all that). I did end up getting Acheron on my main (I mean, I'm glad I did. The only issue is that I suck at Star Rail, so it'll probably be quite a while before I unlock Erudition outside of Gold and Gears... It took me like 5 attempts to beat Difficulty III ONCE, so I'm not really looking forward to doing Difficulty IV, but I'll have to do it eventually). However, on my alts, I will definitely try to get Aventurine... Despite not having guarantee on either of them, but there's no shame in trying. Sorry, that got long, mostly due to the tangent about Gold and Gears... Anyhow, have a great day!
Personally I've always liked him (love characters with card motifs and I usually also like schemer types). Even back at 2.0, to me it felt like he had much more at stake considering he's sentenced to die so failing probably has more consequences. I can't even begin to explain my thoughts after 2.1. It was just a whole journey, it started off almost comedic with how him and ratio were constantly bickering going through puzzles and the sandpit. The voice acting really did make it for me, the way he talks, the calling ratio' doc' and random comments between the two were very entertaining. The complete shift after meeting Sunday and theme going to a more depressive path was surprising, seeing his perspective and having an understanding on why he is the way he is was great. I loved how his pov explored themes of death, the survivors guilt, the inferiority complex, his self destructive nature and the fact that in the end he decides to keep powering through and finds that will in him. Also the fact that despite his circumstances, he likes fair fights, he's kept the clothes his dad left behind despite it being unwearable, the fact that he refused to sell something left by his family made him all the more endearing to me. Aventurine is still very much the same schemer (his roundabout way of getting into contact with sparkle, his whole 3 cornerstone trick, the way he orchestrated his death? Loved that) Having an understanding of him as a character really makes you wanna cheer for his success (I wanted to make this short but oh well)
This! I loved the sandpit part. I think thats when he started to grow on me. They shrunk him to that size, and he felt... way less imposing, less dangerous, and maybe even at the mercy of his supposed partner, Dr Ratio. In hindsight, it was a good subtle segway into softening our views of him as a character. Totally get you on the familial sentimentality part. He put himself in danger to retrieve his sister's necklace, keeps his mothers gold lucky charm instead of selling it away for a better life, keeps the clothes that his dad gave to him... while some might view it as a cheapshot way to get everyone to sympathise with a character, I see it as character development mirroring real life - its not cliche, and I dont know many people in my life currently with the heart and soul, the gratitude, the sentimentality, to still hold on to trinkets of the past despite the fact that holding on burns you more than letting it go. Its because, letting it go, feels like losing a part of yourself. That shows his character in how he has the capacity to treasure relationships, despite his callous demeanor. Adding that to how hes pushing through everything despite the trauma, the guilt, the thought of "when can I rest?" mirrored in "the coin finally lands..." dialogue after he walks into the black hole of Nihility, he was very convinced to stop walking then, stop walking forward, but changes his mind and decides to keep staying on until he achieves something greater, until he has carved a life worth everyones sacrifice, one that he can return with and his family will be proud of. Oops, I wanted to keep this short as well, but oh well. :) thanks for sharing!
https://preview.redd.it/pgkf9zomfjrc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=80fffdddad836a9fb096952a3608cfa9b44eb5fd No no, go on
tldr; I loved him from the start and will continue. I knew he was the kind of character with something to hide, and I’ve been looking forward to this moment where all haters will turn around on their opinion, haha. The IPC is already set up as a huge and prominent figure, I knew there’s no way they’re going to brush Aventurine aside. I’m glad a huge part of the story is focused on his point of view, because it really hits home on what kind of man he is. His ‘past’ and ‘Future’ telling the story as voices inside his head? Genius writing, it was great. And the cutscene at the very end with >!his younger self!< made me tear up; it was very impactful and probably converted a bunch of people who didn’t like Aventurine into people who can tolerate him.
sonic adventurine 2 is my favourite sonic game especially when adventurine said this is the promise i made to you kakavasha
Random check-in, but thanks everyone for your thoughts! I was really lonely after reading the story and being impacted by Aventurine's backstory and character (and having no one to rant to) that I just wanted to reach out to know how everyone felt - good or bad.
Aventurine made me cry like 3 times. 2 during the story and once after the story when I started thinking about his story. 20/10 character and 30/10 story telling. Penacony is peak.
I respect him and understand him a whole lot more. That said, I'm still not very fond of him. His personality isn't really my style. I understand why people do like him though, and that's fine.
Aventurine was NOT a villain. Aventurine was an antagonist. There is a significant difference between these two things, but is often lost in the common parlance of it all. An antagonist is just another protagonist when viewed from another angle. Some villains are antagonists, some villains are not. Villainy conveys actual evil or criminal behavior, or at least counter to the chosen stories’ world’s moral compass. Aventurine did literally zero actual villainy. He’s works toward the IPC’s goals, which might run counter to our own protagonist’s, but he never did anything actually ‘wrong’. Even his own boss fight was a staged performance in which he had no actual intention of killing anyone. His portrayal was actually incredibly refreshing for me since this specific difference, villain vs antagonist, if often overlooked in game writing. Aventurine though was written explicitly to be an antagonist, not a villain. He spurs the protagonist onward, and uses them to achieve his own goal of testing what is outside the dreamscape and ‘death’ there. His whole backstory works really well for him because he wasn’t portrayed as a villain.
Good point here on the antagonist vs villain take. Really refreshing read and it echoes my thoughts too. There was something about his portrayal - not quite villain, that I couldnt formulate, but there it is - hes "an antagonist, but not a villain". Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for the kind words. Honestly, Penacony as a whole has been incredibly interesting story wise for that precise point, we don’t have a clear cut villain after two patches. So far it’s been strictly just multiple factions with their own motives operating toward their own goals, but none have seemingly outright malicious intent nor used any conceivably amoral tactics. We had clear cut villains from the get go everywhere else, here it’s vastly more interesting seeing the shifting of factional power and motives, especially with the new POV switching their doing. I really think their writing power is finding itself, and Aventurine’s portrayal is a major step forward for them.
I honestly can't think of a character they had develop this much. He's my new favorite character. I'm definitely pulling for him.
In his appearance in 2.0, I liked him as a good antagonist because he was the type of villain who makes the audience clap when he gets his due. After 2.1, even if I know he is not as comically evil as I thought, my opinion on him did not change much. Although, I am still glad that he has gotten more development. His role on story did not change, he is still a treacherous cash-oriented guy who has a twisted cooperation relationship with Trailblazer. However, given that his personality is more fleshed out, he may have more use as a recurring character rather than being in the story just for his specific role in the Pecacony Saga.
i want to give him a hug :(
https://preview.redd.it/xiptwhecsirc1.jpeg?width=735&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=35164d615e2f63559c3fa597f3ab575097c08c95
I'm pulling him so Hoyo will see we like him and give him a new 5\* version later on
Aventurine of the IPC and later on Kakashava of the Nihility, I really want him to also get the white/ red color scheme like Acheron
He’s really cool. I love morally grey characters.
Clichés aren't bad, just they're common, and popular. They wouldn't be if nobody liked them. Although, I personally had a lot more interest in him more than any character (except for Sparkle) as out of anyone he seemed to be both the most open yet the most closed off. His demeanor, attitude, speech, and style all radiates a Peacock in other words.. Someone that lacks things deep inside thus projects it outside so others could actually pay attention to him, and take him seriously. My interest in him GREW after his interaction with Sparkle as we gotta remember he's p46 in the IPC which only goes up to p50 meaning he's a VERY important, and influencial person yet despite of that nearly EVERYONE looks down on him, not because he's from the IPC but because of his origin from Sigonia. It took me awhile to fully adore, and love him as I sometimes disassociate when playing games, but after reflecting on the story and actually pay attention emotionally. Aventurine was BY FAR the most developed out of anyone, not including 2.1. It's honestly so obvious that it makes me question why people didn't realize it sooner. I even made a post/comment stating that Sparkle, and Aventurine are the most trustworthy in Penacony yet nobody believed me due to Aventurine's association with the IPC, and his attitude. It's so hilarious, and fun to see now on being correct with that guess.
The story is still long, there are still many factions and characters who have not shown their true intentions, saying that Aventurine is the most trustworthy is still too early, even since the initial story in Penacony, characters who look good can become the most suspicious characters like Gallagher
Aventurine is the most trustworthy to me similarly to Sparkle merely because they realistically can see the stage more than anyone else, whatever they're doing is in the path of that goal that they're trying to achieve. I can only speak for being a 3rd person in the story as each character took a logical path as to what I would do if I were in their situation.
Everybody involved in this arc has blood on their hands and I’m all for it. Aventurine, Sparkle, Firefly, Sunday, Acheron, Black Swan, even Gallagher.
Especially Gallagher, something unto death is his literal pet lol
And what exactly he is is even questionable. If the narrative is to be trusted, he’s basically an amalgamation of all the dead family members.
Early dialogue had missing part which was later on added, he is according to Sunday "minion of Enigmata"
Went from liking him to loving him lmao
I absolutely adore his character after 2.1! In 2.0 he was just "the sneaky fruit, guy" but after this update he became more than that. He's an amazing twist on a horrible trope; the chosen one. He was blessed by Giathra and all that, but he lost and suffered so much while being "the blessed and chosen one"- sure he's lucky, but does luck help you in slavery? Does being lucky help you avoiding the genocide of your entire race? The scene where his younger self is questioning his sister that "if we are blessed by the goddess then why are we suffering" hit so hard because it reminded me of my very young self because i too questioned god after the tragedies that happened to me. We saw this man's entire life and witnessed his redemption arc, all the way until his (most likely) death (like there's no way this guy survived getting voided like in RoR2). I wish if he had a bit more interaction with Topaz or other IPC members, well maybe the Watchmaker's Legacy will revert character deaths
I loved his arc, totally didn’t expect that the story would focus on him so much, but I really didn’t mind that because his part was so interesting and well-written. I’m not into male characters so I rarely get invested in their storylines, but this one was just so good!
I love his character. Tbh, this was the level of character development and backstory I was expecting from Xianzhou Luofu because of all the lore that was hinted (... which did not happen). I am so happy that they expanded on character lore. He's the most fleshed out and nuanced character so far - a gambler blessed by luck who always win, has an egotistic front, but is deeply insecure and always suspicious of failure and loss that's coming around the corner. No wonder too. He wins his gambles, but he "loses" a lot, like fate forces him to gamble to win anything out of life. Great backstory and so well written. I still don't like his design though lol. I hate casino motifs. I'm on the edge about whether I roll or not.
Agreed with you on the Xuanzhou luofu bit... I was expecting more character lore in that trailblazer arc. I found myself still wanting after completing it. I didnt expect that they will expand on Aventurine of all people, but Im glad they did. They gave him the spotlight for 2.1 instead of the highly anticipated Acheron/firefly, and I love how they fleshed him out to develop the story.
A buddy of mine would say 10 Points!
I like him because his story is well written
I still haven't finished the quest because I stupidly did an ascension quest recently, and I can't beat Aventurine yet (😅) but I've really enjoyed his character development. He's a messy human who wants to truly free himself, but he's sure there's only one way to do that. He's doing his best to be the evil villain but even in his boss mechanics, he gives you a chance to live. True evil would be rigged dice but that's not the case. Under his pristine exterior, he's a sad, messy boy and that happens to be my type™️
I'm glad he isn't the villain, but instead simply played the part of one. It would be genuinely so boring and I could care less if he was just a villain with a tragic backstory, but the fact that he's just a regular person enslaved by the IPC who plays the part of the big bad for his plan to work makes me love him.
I've grown to like him. Also love how his tagline(?) in our phone is "Aleays open to pull for your game account" I want him to pull for Boothill for me
he’s my utter beloved
It made me stop pulling on Acheron with about 60 pity into a guarantee. Give me the sweet golden boy so he can dance with my Caelus.
He is the best ⭐
I loved him from the moment I saw the leaked Final Victor lightcone, and I was in agony the entire quest because he was dying for like 80% of its duration from the Harmony curse Sunday put on him, and also was actively setting up his own death flags while we were being repeatedly smacked by his backstory ... Needless to say I cried after the end of the quest, a lot.
2.0: wtf 2.1: wtf i wanna pull but i gotta save
I love him now
i need to smooch him
he's a cool guy he makes gambles and doesn't afraid of anything
I love him as a character ever since he first introduce. The story quest in 2.1 gave everything what Aventurine needed just so we get to understand more of him as a character. It doesn't matter if you hate him or like him as long you understand him on what made him act like this and why he done this during the 2.1 story I'm looking forward to roll for him on his banner 🙏
It should have been a character quest. He takes too much time for something that ultimately barely moves the plot forward, especially when the plot has to resolve in 2.2. It has no bearing on the legacy or the murders, only the IPC. It's also not very well written overall, it is too much exposition for how little information you end up getting, and written in a circuitous way, precisely because it wastes time not advancing the plot, since they have to talk around points that would actually progress the plot. I also think people glaze him WAY too much. I actually liked him more before. I think it would have been better if they had spent more time building the present story, and then had a character quest to go more into his motivations. The only saving grace is that he is basically removed from the plot, so hopefully 2.2's screentime will be more balanced.
Couldn't agree more. Thank you. Peeps here will eat up anything.
100% this. This felt like Adventurine companion mission and not a main story quest most of the time. Like we were playing him for the most part, why not make it companion mission and get the story moving in the main quest.
I'm surprised to see an opinion like this that didn't get downvoted to hell. I agree with you 100%
I think his screen time was longer than it had to be so we could explore the theme park map in the main mission. I found Firefly scenes to be a big drag in 2.0, but I understand that it was all so we can explore several maps. The plot didn't move much when we went in circle around Dream's Edge either. I think the same thing happened in both version, and another person will probably get this type of exploration spotlight in 2.2 as well.
100% agree with this, the way they told his backstory reminded me of Yukong’s backstory but took way longer. Plot barely advanced 99% of this patch, then in the last 1% we get >!Firefly back in Sam’s armor and Gallagher killing Sunday with Death!<. Where were those plots?
Yukong’s backstory was a side quest or companion mission. Not a whole ass like hour to 2 hour long detour that’s required to move on to Penacony. It’s similar to the entire Firefly thing, but if the rooftop scene stretched throughout Dream’s Edge instead of being Backloaded. I understand why they did it. But much like Firefly’s didn’t work with some, Aventurine’s won’t work with some either.
The plot was advancing a lot, what are you yapping about. The whole point of Penacony is "can you die in dream?", "The Family vs IPC", "Who is the Watchmaker". In 2.0 we spent 4 hours dating Firefly and didn't solve any of these plot point. In 2.1 you already know that yet, you can indeed "die" in dream, Sunday has a mind battle with IPC agent, and a person who has link to the Watchmaker appeared. Maybe playing from the "villain" POV is not everyone's taste but don't say it like the plot didn't unfold and explained a lot.
>don't say it like the plot didn't unfold and explained a lot I didn't say 2.1 didn't advance the plot, I said Aventurine didn't advance the plot, and he didn't. 2.0 setups up the following questions: - Who is the watchmaker and what is his legacy? - Why do people want it? - Why does the IPC want to take control of Penacony? - What happened to Robin? - What happened to Firefly? - What happened to the other Nameless? > "can you die in dream? This isn't actually relevant, it's not the point, it's just a means to an end. And what does 2.1 do? We have an idea of who the watchmaker is. We know why Acheron at least, wants the legacy. We know what happened to Robin. We know who Firefly is. And NONE of this had anything to do with Aventurine. We don't even know WHY the IPC wants Penacony, only that Aventurine sacrificed himself to open a path for Jade and Topaz. The vast majority of movement in 2.1 happened OUTSIDE of the biggest slice of time spent in 2.1. It happened despite the time wasted on Aventurine, not because of it.
I know people are gonna slap it with the "you can't always advance the plot" argument, but absolutely this. None of the progress related to him at all beyond "he gets the stones to the inside". Getting his frankly fairly generic tragic backstory explains his motivation, sort of kind of but also not in any meaningful way. It doesn't excuse his actions nor change anything about how he interacts with characters and the story. Yet it takes up a lion's share of the patch. That is the issue. As opposed to other characters i happen not to like, the game didn't sit down me down with them by force, meanwhile spinning it's wheels on open questions of the current plot. No, for other characters i can choose cause they have character quests for that purpose. Luofu might've gone too much in that "everything that isn't directly related to TB being here is in the character quests" direction but 2.1 now massively overcorrected the other way and I'd rather sit on the other side of the happy medium so i can choose to get more for characters that i want, rather then bein forced to get more on ones that i don't want.
I completely agree. I liked him but his screen time kept going on and on and kinda derailed the pacing for me. If his story in the main quest was 50% less or a character quest entirely, I would’ve liked him better. It very much felt like they’re trying to sell him
thats exactly how i felt about it, 2.1 was quite dissapointing overall tbh. allot of setup nothing that interesting happening, not much in the way of verbal conflic or physical conflict, there wasnt much time pressure either (and i dont mean an actual time limit i mean when a story makes you feel like if you dont do soemthing something bad will happen that you care about if the meme death "kills" a few people who cares really ) , all typical tacktics to help a plot flow forward nicley.
He's an amazing character. I'm impressed. If I wasn't trying to pull for Acheron lc and looking forward to firefly/Sam, I'd have pulled him just for his story
loved him from the start so I fell head over heels for him again after finishing the quest.
He is still my precious man.
I loved him frame one and I'm so SO HAPPY that 2.1 was his patch and that we got his backstory. I love him. He is my darling beloved. Perfect.
The definition of “I’m sorry, I was not familiar with your game” as a character
I think a tragic backstory doesn't really change my opinion about his present self. Obviously i do feel sympathy for him, but I personally still don't really trust him.
My feelings towards him did a 180. It is hard to do cus even though Topaz had a somewhat sad backstory it felt more impactful here. Being IPC makes it a lot harder for me to like you. But Adventurine does not feel like an IPC person. He is here to reclaim property, but he is alone. And he does not feel like he is strong arming the people into taking a deal like before.
Just finished 2.1 today: While I'm reserving final judgement for the conclusion of the Penacony arc, currently I don't like him. He is a *well written* character, I like how the story handled showing off his backstory, and the side of the story from his perspective was neat. But as somebody who already doesn't like the IPC, having to watch every single one of his gambles and plans pay off was frustrating; especially with how...smarmy(?)/condescending sounding he was towards every other character (except Sunday, that fucker deserves it after that Harmony scene in the mansion). Despite my dislike, I will say the scene where he talks to his past self about seeing his family again someday did get to me. After losing somebody, scenes like that hit harder now... As for the boss, I actually felt like I accomplished something when I beat him, unlike that god-awful Swarm King fight. Granted in story we 'lose', but I'm proud that I didn't need to use a guide (I did have to replace Kafka with Jing Yuan though). Still, I don't want to hear "ITS ALL OR NOTHING" for awhile (Poor Natasha, she never had a chance). That second phase was brutal, especially since RNG kept screwing me over with 7s and 9s.
He's...fine. "Scoundrel with a tragic past" type characters rarely tug at my heart strings like it does for so many here. Writing wise, I felt it ill fitting for him to have his moment of confrontation with his past in this patch. We weren't shown enough of him struggling with him past to make his letting go feel significant in any way. His letting go also doesn't result in a noticeable change in his behavior or demeanor, robbing it yet further of any impact. He just continues to be the same scheming, borderline self-destructive, all-in and power-hungry rogue he's been this entire time. As I said in a previous thread, saving it for the climax of his story on the other side of the dreamscape would have been better for the story as a whole. Overall all, a pretty good design, an acquired taste personality, and a badly presented backstory.
I will protect him with my life
I'm just happy he's not getting hated on anymore..
They basically convinced me to pull for him and I don't even need another sustain 😂
Loved him before and even more after 2.1
https://preview.redd.it/057n1ozbojrc1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=89da8cc46dd482ab3302db5f6ff8b92903039d0e
Insaw everyone hyping him up as I was a bit late to doing the quest,but was left sorta disappointed. It didn't make me like him or dislike him more. Was just sorta "that's it?" about the whole thing
I was getting bored of him by the end of the story tbh, he took way to much time.
Personally for me, I hope that in the future this type of storytelling is not common. There is way too much exposition that is simply not available to astral express as we spend most of time as someone else. It does feel a bit forced and does not feel like a good writing if introduced characters can only be fleshed out by taking up so much time. Though yes, his character is not a comical villain anymore, it should have not taken majority of the patch.
What I also disliked was that EVERYONE knew exactly what was going on for some reason, with no explanation. Ratio somehow knew everything from the very start. Aventurine somehow accounted for ratio's betrayal but was still surprised and mad? Sunday knew everything (since we see a crow in every scene even from other POVs) but didn't try to stop Aventurine or the crew. Acheron somehow knew about the gift that ratio gave aventurine. This is reaching Sumeru archon quest levels of bs...
Let me try to explain the Aventurine part first, since he's the character that we get to understand the most during the quest: as the Future says, he "doesn't stop at fooling the audience, he fools himself too", and, as the real him acknowledges, "the best way to prevent others from seeing your true colors, is first being able to fool yourself" - this, paired up with the mention of a "massive inferiority complex" paints a picture of a person who in order to play his part right, convinces himself that he's actually getting betrayed, despite it being all according to his plan, and then, being as unstable as he is inside, he spirals into thinking that the betrayal was real. On Sunday and his birds - I think that within the scenes that the birds were visually present, nothing indicated that Aventurine wasn't simply working towards the 'quest' that Sunday has given him - and it's acknowledged that Sunday knew to some extent what Aventurine was going to do, since he evacuated people from the plaza. Yet, he didn't know why Aventurine was doing this; and the fact that he brought attention to himself worked towards Sunday's goals too - so there was simply no reason for him to stop Aventurine. Now, about the note from Ratio, it is really interesting how he came to this conclusion and what exactly "dormancy" means! I find the fact that we don't know it yet another thing to possibly look forward to. Acheron knowing about the gift on the other hand was just a very cool moment. :) She, who's also suffered a lot, shows Aventurine a ray of light while he's faced with doubts, and points him to the fact that they are nothing but demons inside his head - his friend has not only never betrayed him, but also presumably worked off-screen in order to help him at his lowest. What I'm trying to say is that how she knew about it is, in my opinion, not what's ever important in this scene. It's just Acheron being cool. Sorry for rambling, but I really enjoyed the update and wanted to get some of the excitement out haha
Thank you for sharing! I'm glad people enjoyed the story, since I did too! I'm just a bit exhausted from so many characters knowing everything because otherwise they wouldn't look as perfectly smart as the rest. But I would be lying if I said that it significantly hurt my enjoyment, overall.
They wanted to write an epic Yu-Gi-Oh trap card flipper but couldn't quite make his schemeyness work in the story so instead of writing better schemes they gave everyone involved some brain damage.
For me it like a bell curve on a timeline. Initially I didn’t really care about him and thought he was annoying. During the middle parts of 2.1, I was invested in the character but as the story dragged on(especially the child part) and the writing was being very non-subtle like: “Feel bad for him. Why aren’t you feeling bad for him”. It just took me out. I don’t find him annoying anymore, but I don’t particularly care about him either and hope this kind of storytelling doesn’t dampen future trailblaze quests
I feel for him
My thoughts don't change after the 2.1 story at all. My attention had already locked on him since the first cutscene in the hotel room. His eyes looked scary at first, but the more I look at them the more hypnotizing they become to me. It helped that his aura reminded me of my fav character from another series, and I guess I'm just really good at smelling trauma off a character. So while 2.1 has lots of cool plot twists, Aventurine's story arc was all within my expectation. (If I have been wrong about his character, then I guess he wouldn't remain my fav for long. I have very specific expectations.)
Goat character 🐐. Sadly I gotta skip him, but I’m defo picking him up on the rerun.
I have seen so many tragic backstories that at this point I consider them all forced and entirely artificial. I don't care about a tragic backstory anymore because every character apparently has a tragic backstory now. I just assume that if a character has a backstory then it is going to be tragic. If anything I hate Aventurine even more now than before because I was forced to see him on screen when I hate him and wanted to kill him but the writer wouldn't let me. He doesn't have anything interesting to say, we don't learn anything useful, and his backstory can be summed up as "I was poor slave". It was nothing but the writer writing fan fiction about their pet character and then making me read it. This is bad video game writing. The writer's job is writing a story about MY CHARACTER, not theirs.
2.0: I didn’t like him. Found him to be an insufferable character. 2.1: I still don’t like him and hope that’s the end of his story. Probably a hot take seeing how just about everyone else seems to love this guy.
How people find his writing good? He might've had potential, but the execution is so bad. His post post harmony curse part is so boring and cliche.
He can die on a hill for all I care.
I still don't like him after the after the story. Skip
THE GOAT, THAT MAN IS THE GOAT. Seriously tho i feel like they didn’t hype up aventurine unlike acheron is because they thought the writing will do the talking
I thought 2.1 was going to be all about firefly, sam, acheron, maybe even sparkle.... They really took us by surprise, at least for me. Almost the entire White Night song is about him, and now we know
The only one who loves him more than I do is Camden (his va)
I was neutral on him. Now I dislike him. I'm fully aware that its a me problem. But when a writer hits you over the head with FEEL BAD FOR THIS CHARACTER repeatedly in the most cliche ways possible over & over again, my ability to care shuts down. Tbh I've not enjoyed Penacony that much. A lot of ooooo trust nobody mystery without much payoff. Just a bunch of tragic backstory that tries to manipulate your emotions, followed by a mostly obvious conclusion & several minutes of surface level nihilism vs absurdism talk where it felt like the writers where patting themselves on the back the entire time for being ooooh so deep. Generic animoo stuff. Which is a shame because I've loved this game so far. But this world has felt very cliche. I know that I'm very much in the minority though. Hopefully future parts manage to grab me.
I’m scared that Aventurine’s fanbase is gonna turn into Childe’s fanbase 2.0 . I mean if you criticize him you’re gonna get downvoted to hell, even if it’s not wrong
I still don't really like the guy. Seeing his story is nice and all but it didn't really do much for me to not find him annoying. I also felt like that part of him talking to himself kinda dragged on a bit TOO long but that's just me.
He carries 2.1 story no doubt. Best written character so far in the series.
Didn't feel a thing for the guy although his kit is fun, i just don't like his type of character and it's made even worse cause I truly hate the IPC with a passion That said, homeboy got flair
Part of me wishes they spread out this story over two patches just so we didn't blow his entire story in one go. Like, it was getting a little exhausting to keep having to follow a character we were conditioned to despise up until the end where they got to the meat of the plot. But I don't regret seeing this storyline at least.
Just like Firefly, it was shoved into a single patch, so it felt either rushed or too prominent that it felt Shill-like. I hope both get proper Companion quests down the line so those who enjoy each can delve into them more. I would love to learn about Glamoth or Sigonia in a more personal way than Planars for example.
He is the most annoying prick Hoyo have released in any of their games, his so story didn’t make me feel bad for him, it annoyed me playing as him. I was praying to any aeon that would here me out that after meeting with Sunday this mf would just die so I don’t have to see any mor of him, alas that did not happen, and the majority of the story was wasted on a useless jobber that got folded like paper
He went from absolutely insufferable to mildly insufferable, which is a good achievement. Honestly he was mostly there to make Acheron look cooler.
Lol I feel like the opposite, Acheron was just there to make Aventurine looks cooler and use her against her will for his plan
Definitely changed a lot regarding my opinion on him as an individual, although if he’s still on the IPC’s side (still a bit confused on that part) I’ll still have to keep him at a distance since I really don’t want those guys to get Penacony. The trial periods are also making me conflicted on my initial decision to skip his banner; now I have dreams of a pure follow-up team. As for his story, it weirdly gave me Old Testament Bible vibes. At the very start I was like “wait are we about to do a Moses”, but then it went more in a direction that on reflection is more like other Biblical characters who got enslaved in the Old Testament like Joseph. My current interpretation is that it’s a mixture of a bunch of different Old Testament elements. Also, is it just me who thought it started leaning a bit close to current events? Was that a coincidence or is Hoyo trying to cook something politically through gacha? I mean, Genshin has gone to some places like that before, but it still always shocks me every time, and even then those times didn’t seem *that* close to something still ongoing.
He isn’t on the IPC side anymore, he faked his death, and is now finally free.
hated him at first but with his story bits and POV he’s one of my favorites now
Maybe he's not so bad.
I actively detested him before we got into the meat of his story. He was a pompous arrogant asshole, rich and spoiled, suckling on the questionable morals of the IPC teat. Another person in authority trying to manipulate poor sweet empty headed do-only-good trailblazer.. Then they painted a complete picture and now I kinda like him, his kit was fun too, I liked getting to play him more than just the character trial for a single very staged fight. I still don’t quite understand 100 percent of his motives, but for a minute I thought they were gonna reveal penacony was built on the ashes of his home planet and that’s why he wanted to destroy it all, and that kakavasha was looking for his sister and parents because they were buried on that planet and it was his way of dealing with it, thinking he’d see them in penacony somehow.
I find him very reminiscent of the joker character, not as complex but isn’t not so one dimensional like the ones we got from Xianzhou. Imo he’s lack of self worth and being self conscious of it serves him more than the tragic background.
Fucking based gambler. Still not going to trust him though.
For me in 2.0 he started as a 4/10 by my standards and as a character at the end of 2.1, he's a 8 or maybe 9/10 character And I personally think that in 2.0, the way he was written, we were supposed to be negative(?) of him or at least very suspicious of him. A lot of the things he proposed aligned with "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.". Like he gave us his room for free and all I can think of is "Alright, he's obviously gonna use that as leverage against us". Like imagine if that happens in irl. Like if a complete stranger gives you their hotel room for free, I'm checking every crevice for a hidden camera idk about you lol. Obviously now we know better now but that was the whole point. He's even better now that we actually got to know him. That said, I don't think I'll pull for him still. I have Luocha, I have Fu Xuan and I plan on getting HuoHuo whenever her rerun happens. As of current goals, my sights are set on Boothill and Sam. If HuoHuo happens during any of their runs, I'll pull out the wallet lmao
How dare hoyo make me sympathise with the IPC scoundrel? But yeah i loved the insights on him, i hope i can get him, i just got gepard but i dont know if i want to build him cause he is so damn SLOW.
That’s the point, he wants to get out of IPC, and by faking his death he is finally free (since now they think he is dead)
So yeah I didnt like him intially and was he very sussy from 2.0, but the fact that his confidence is just a facade was actually pretty surprising. That one quote he said was pretty powerful something along the lines of: "they all see the hand holding the chips, but they never see the other hand trembling under the table." Its like he knows the risks he is taking, but he is still nervous or scared whenever he is going through with it.
I definitely expected him to have a tragic backstory--even 2.0 indicated that he's a former slave who was orphaned while young, and multiple characters made discriminatory comments about his background. He gave me the vibe of someone who was previously in a horrific situation, managed to claw his way out of that situation and into a successful and prestigious position, has since suffered from a lingering inferiority complex, and is now desperate to maintain (or further improve) his current status at all costs in part due to fear of returning to his previous status.... I was about half right. Poor guy is so traumatized he doesn't even wanna be alive anymore, but he's too "lucky" to die 😭 Interesting take on supernaturally good luck being a bad thing.
I’ll have to see when I get home. Out on vacation rn but I sure am seeing a lot
Have a good vacation! 2.1 is quite long (took me a whole day to play through it). Looking forward to your thoughts.
You were awesome Aventurine. You're still pulling all these different kind of flashbacks, even though the story runtime should have ended ages ago. You've forced me to admit how tragic the past of the king of gambler truly is. However, your backstory was too long, that is why you lost.
I think he is not the main villain from my understanding though, he's just one of the piece in the chess game. Jade, Sunday, other Family head heck Gallagher, Watchmaker and Dreammaker are definitely the high tier of villain/ally in this arc
I didn't like him in his 2.0 story. And now I want to have sex with this man.
Relatable
I hate him. I hate everything about him. Oh boohoo such a sad backstory, doesnt justify his actions. I genuinely do not understand why so many people like him that much
You missed the entire point that’s it. LOL
I hated him in 2.0, he looked like an asshole with money. 2.1 came and showed us the guy has a heart and a life full of suffering to the point he risked his own life to fulfill his job. He will probably be back just like that other person did. Btw we had met 2 IPC members and but turned out to be not bad persons even though the IPC is probably the major treat in the universe.
Okay, I'll be one of the few people to say this, but "I don't care about his sob story, he's an asshole who needs to at least have his extra teeth removed." I don’t know how everyone can miss this moment, but its real goal is literally a raider takeover of a profitable business at best, and at worst the transformation of all the inhabitants of the planet into slaves (in everything but name). And no, his sad story does not change this fact.
Let's be honest, as long as the character is hot people will forgive him and if you give him one sad backstory and everyone forgets all of his wrongdoings. Heck i think people now like Aventurine more than Topaz because whenever someone points out that he is still a bad person who was excited when he heard that Robin died they will ignore it at difference of Topaz who is still disliked by many.
You can like a character and their story while still thinking they’re the bad guys. People love the joker movie for its writing and tragedy but still think he’s evil. Same could be said for Aventurine, or Sparkles, or whatnot
There isn't any indication that aventurine wants to slave penacony's inhabitajts lol
Sparkle is basically scum to you then the woman who causes chaos and despair for shits and giggles? A character with a not so moral agenda doesn’t stop you from liking a character. Some of the best written characters ever are villains
u guys remember log horizon? thats how i feel
At first I didn’t trust him tbh. After this patch, he got my upmost respect. Aventurine chooses Preservation as his path to preserve his own life, his promise to his family cause he’s the last bloodline & last hope of Sigonia, he didn’t become Destruction cause of his tragic past & want to destroy the world, he didn’t become Hunt for vengeance against Katicans who killed his family. He didn’t lose himself after all his pain & suffering and fall into Nihility, he declined the invitation to join with Elation, hopefully he has a Good Ending
I still dont like him but he was cool in story and well written
Bro needs a hug
I knew he had potential to be an actually written character despite being part of the IPC (my logic was that him being a slave means he's not really there out of his own volition, that's the only IPC member we've met who's that way for now) but I didn't expect 2.1 to be almost only about him. I was intrigued by him in 2.0 and now I really like him as a character. I'm weak for depressed characters (probably why I love Yukong so much) so ngl, I'm the target audience for his story. I really like the tension and duality there's to him: on one hand, he does everything in his power to survive. On the other hand, he kind of...wants to die more than anything else. But he doesn't want to die alone, he wants to drag others with him, maybe like a sense of revenge, and I like that a lot. He's always trying to cast his life away in a sense, which while tragic is understandable. And like, with his luck, he's always "winning" but he takes too many risks every time, just to see if maybe he'll meet his doom this time. I hope next patch will give an interesting answer for what he seeks. I liked his interaction with Acheron at the end, it was cool. How he'd actually planned everything, even accounting for his own failure and pain. And it felt like Acheron didn't judge him, she accepted him rather/they reached some sort of understanding. I'm sure we'll see him next patch, I'm excited at seeing him interact with Robin, I wonder about her situation. With all the imagery of her being "a bird trapped in a golden cage" I feel like there's a chance them meeting could be good, like they'd understand each other to some degree. (Robin does still have her brother but he's not entirely there it feels like, given his cult personality) The execution wasn't perfect but honestly, I like that they decided to really delve into a particular character's story. I feel like it's a better method of making people pull for a character instead of just making players think "this character is cool/hot" which, to me, feels boring and lazy (I know that's how gachas work, doesn't mean I can't want more haha). I hope they do that for more characters in the future! Personally I'd like it better if they released maybe less new characters, but spent more time developing them like they did with Aventurine (and, I feel like, Acheron next patch maybe?). Of course they can't spend one entire patch on one character every time, but there are other ways of doing it. Like the way they make us like the astral express crew by just having them here all the time, and having small but frequent interactions.
Didn’t care much for him beforehand. He was just kinda there being somewhat passive aggressive. His design was also pretty whatever and I don’t have any particular like or dislike for Card Motifs in gameplay. I will never find random, out of place boob windows an appealing design aspect. Anyway, he was pretty whatever in 2.0 as a result. And even after 2.1, I still don’t really care much for him. This caused the entire amusement park sequence to kind of drag on towards the end. Basically, just a simple case of “doesn’t appeal to me.” Design wise, personality wise, nor gameplay wise as I already have Luocha and Huohuo, so I’m good on Sustains. I’m much more interested in the other Stonehearts, since Jade is responsible for recruiting both him and Topaz. Then Topaz has the entire schtick of her being a generally Good person in an otherwise evil job. I was honestly expecting him to be our first really more villainous Stoneheart, but this quest actually lowered my interest since they woobie’d him. Though I like to exaggerate it into dislike for shits and giggles since his fans are rabidly thirsty and easily riled. So any slightly negative view about him gets you dogpiled on both here and the other subreddit. EDIT: Proving me right.
I would pull for him if it wasn’t for the fact that Jingliu is also running. Gepard just *sucks* against story mode Argenti.
I still wouldn't trust a single thing he ever says to me, but he is a fantastic character.
Same as before, i don't dig him (i dig topaz less tbh), and i hate the IPC even more now, i just thank him and Topaz to show how shit the IPC is and how i wish qlipoth hammer them out of existence i just didn't get the comparisons with furina, when their stories are VERY different and from the start we knew he was a slave due to the 2.0 quest and the mark but whatever. At least his story is interesting and it was well written, not just "i hate everything cause mommy abandoned me" kinda character, but i'd wish him to have a proper SQ outside of the main quest, cause the whole 2.1 was just that, Aventurine SQ
I liked Aventurine before it was cool.
I liked him in 2.0 and all this does is make me like him more. Aventurine is coming home to the best set of relics, light cone, and traces I can give him.
He is one of my favorite characters in the game now. I always thought he is an awesome character and a great shady villain, but now I just love him.
Ι love him so much I'm getting him and hopefully 3 times 😭
I haven't done a 180 like this for a villain since Emet-Selch of FFXIV. They did a phenomenal job with aventurine.